On Mexico’s Migrant Trail: Confusion and Tough Choices

“Any restrictive measure in terms of migration and refuge is going to favor the business of the transnational criminal networks,” mentioned Ramón Márquez, director of La 72, a migrant shelter in Tenosique, Mexico.

Toasting tortillas over a hearth on the Jesús El Buen Pastor del Pobre y el Migrante Shelter in Tapachula, Lucía Carmen Flores Sánchez was the uncommon migrant who had not heard that new insurance policies north of the border meant prosecuting anyone making unauthorized entry to the United States, which had resulted in the separation of about 2,000 children from their dad and mom previously six weeks. Many of the individuals fleeing Central America say they’re escaping the lethal gangs there; most are from El Salvador and Honduras.

Ms. Flores, 27, who was touring from El Salvador along with her mom and her Eight-year-old daughter, had deliberate to reunite along with her father, in Baja California, and then discover a approach to cross along with her daughter into the United States.

“Maybe better to stay in Baja California,” Ms. Flores mentioned Tuesday earlier than Mr. Trump signed the chief order to stop youngsters from being taken from their dad and mom. She solid a frightened look at her daughter. “I’m not going to lose the only thing I’ve got.”

Some Trump administration officers have mentioned that separating dad and mom from youngsters was meant to discourage individuals from coming into the United States, whereas different administration figures have denied it vehemently. The administration has additionally mentioned the coverage was meant, partially, to cease criminals masquerading as dad and mom from entering into the nation extra simply, though solely a tiny fraction of the whole variety of households apprehended on the southwestern border contain fraud.

Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Security secretary, mentioned this week that the authorities weren’t separating households “legitimately seeking asylum” at a port of entry. But many households have been dissuaded from reaching those crossings and making use of for asylum.

The swirl of fixing requirements and contradictory statements from the United States — together with a latest administration choice to oppose asylum based on gang or domestic violence — have fed uncertainty amongst all migrants, not simply those that face the harshest penalties. “They have implemented fear,” mentioned Luis Rey García Villagrán, a migrants’ advocate in Tapachula, talking concerning the Trump administration. “The situation has gotten worse.”